


Adewale's Message

by Phsbarbie



Series: Kiddway [8]
Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-29
Updated: 2014-10-29
Packaged: 2018-02-23 03:15:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2532059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phsbarbie/pseuds/Phsbarbie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An urgent message reaches Edward and Mary, but they have no idea what it's about</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adewale's Message

"Letter for you, Cap'n!" yells a boy, running up to the ship before we've even fully docked. 

I laugh good-naturedly. "Aye, lad, you could wait until we lower the gang plank."

"I was given 5 gold Reales to make sure you got this letter as soon as your feet left your ship," he says, out of breath.

5 gold Reales to a street urchin like this? Must seem like a fortune. More than enough to make sure the letter gets delivered. Must be important. 

Instead of waiting for the plank I brace myself against the railing and launch over the side, landing on the dock. True to form, no sooner have my feet touched ground than the boy presses the letter into my hand. 

I flip him another coin. "You've done your task well, lad. Take this with my thanks."

His eyes light up and he dashes away, not wanting to give me a chance to change my mind. 

"Going soft on me, Edward?" questions Mary, coming down the plank.

I smirk at her. "Mary, when have you ever known me to go soft on you when I should be... hard?"

She chuckles, the husky sound still sending chills up my spine even after more than 6 months together. "And grateful I am of it." She nods towards the envelope in my hand. "Who's that from?"

I shrug. "Don't know yet."

I know who I want it to be from. Caroline. Telling me the divorce is final and wishing me on my way. Then I can finally ask Mary to marry me. Or rather, plead with her until she agrees.

She's rather independent, this woman of mine. Somehow I don't think "wife" was ever on her list of goals. I haven't deluded myself into thinking she'll say yes the first time I ask and fall into my arms, as Caroline did, but I'm not worried. I can be quite charming when I need to be. And if that doesn't work I'll simply have to wear her down. 

All this planning is still just a moot point, however. The writing on the outside of the letter isn't the graceful cursive of Caroline, but looks more like chicken scratch. 

Mary is giving me an amused look. "Well? Are you going to open it, Kenway? Or just guess what's inside?"

I glare at her and she chuckles. "Sometimes I wonder who the real captain is," I grumble, opening the letter.

"Me, of course," she scoffs. "So, who's it from?"

"Adewale," I say, scanning the contents. "He doesn't say much. Just that there's an emergency and we need to head for home as soon as we get this. Nothing-" I mean to say "else" but Mary's no longer listening.

She rips the paper out of my hand and reads over it herself, mouth moving as fast as her eyes. "What kind of emergency? Is it Anne? Has she had the baby?"

I sigh. "Like I said, Kidd, he doesn't say."

"Jack!" she yells at the nearest member of the crew, the first one to leave the ship. "Get your arse back on board and start moving that cargo! You lot have two hours to get it changed out before we're shoving off again, with or without you." She strides off to find the dockmaster and hurry things along. 

So much for a day or two free in Havana, but she's right. If there's an emergency we need to get back right away; Anne should be having that baby any day now. Though I do wonder why Ade wasn't more specific, and at how many ports he left letters waiting for me. It's not like our stops are planned.

Luckily for everyone's sanity we have our cargo sold and supplies loaded within the time allotted, and we're off to Great Inagua. 

It takes a week to make the voyage this time, a week Mary spends working the men harder than ever before. Even harder than when she first revealed herself to be a woman three months ago. I find her pacing during idle times and staring off into the ocean at strange intervals. In short, not much like her usual self.

She brings that frustration into our bed with her too, but that part I don't mind. She can take all her frustrations out on my body any day she likes. Though it seems lately she's using sex to take her mind off other things instead of it being an act just between us. 

In truth, I'm worried for Anne as well. Did she really survive that hellish prison only to lose her babe among the flowers of my manor? Seems to me to be more than a bit unfair. Annie's a good lass. She deserves more out of life than she's been given. But then again, don't we all?

When we finally pull into port in the early afternoon it's to see Ade waiting for us on the dock. 

"Must've had scouts watching for us," says Mary, her arms crossed, eyes never leaving his waiting figure. "That's not a good sign."

"Easy, Mary," I say, coming up behind her and wrapping my arms around her waist. I normally don't touch her like this, not in public, but I think she needs comfort, needs steadying, more at this moment than she needs to appear strong. The crew already knows she is. "Ade said there was an emergency, he didn't say what it was. No need worrying before we know."

She nods, but her eyes still don't look away. Mary has always felt responsible for Anne. Perhaps it's because she introduced her to the pirate game, showed her a woman could be more than a tavern wench. Whatever the reason, there's a bond between the two of them. I don't know what Mary would do if something happened to Anne. 

The ship is still at least a foot away from the dock when Mary leaps over the side, landing firmly on her feet, with me following right behind her. 

Ade gives us a tired smile. "Mary, Edward, it's good to see you."

"Ade, where's Anne? Is she okay? Is it the babe?" asks an increasingly panicking Mary.

A look of confusion and then realization crosses Adewale's face. "Anne's fine, Mary. The babe hasn't arrived yet, though he should be here any day now. Not soon enough, if you ask Anne. She's tired and cranky and ready to, in her words, look less like a beached whale."

Mary lets out a sigh of relief and her frame relaxes, sheds some of the stress that's been making her tight. "Jaysus, Ade. You took a few years off my life with that one."

Ade chuckles. "Sorry, Kidd, wasn't my intent." His eyes flick to me and he sobers. "Actually, the one I need is-"

"Adewale?" interrupts a soft voice behind him. A... child's voice?

My brow furrows. There aren't any children in Pirate's Cove. The name itself gives the reason why.

Ade's eyes close, the look on his face saying he wanted to delay this, whatever this is. "Jenny, didn't I tell you to wait at the house with Miss Anne?"

A small blonde child, a girl no more than 6, peers curiously around Ade. She's beautiful, really. Long blonde curls, porcelain skin, curious eyes. She turns them on me speculatively.

"Is this my papa?" she asks, not sure if she'll like the answer.

I'm about to laugh and send the girl on her way to fetch her mama when I see her, really see her, for the first time. Or rather, I really see her eyes. Bright and blue and clear. Caroline's eyes.

Adewale sighs. "Edward, I'd like you to meet your daughter, Jenny Scott Kenway."


End file.
